When Izuku awoke the next morning, he felt-finally-that he was starting to get a handle on the life of a noble heir.

There was danger to it, absolutely-social pitfalls, dangerous and untrustworthy peers scheming to serve their own agendas, the ever-present risk of knives in the back. But quite frankly, Izuku was more than used to danger-and many of the specific dangers were even things he had faced as a mercenary already. He felt…well, he felt like he was prepared.

What he was not prepared for was walking downstairs after dressing to find two people he had desperately hoped to avoid seeing waiting for him in the sitting room.

Izuku came to a screeching halt in the doorway, hand still on the doorknob, as his eyes landed on one Katsuki Bakugo.

"What the-" Izuku blurted, eyes flying open. Lightning briefly pulsed down his forearms, the scent of ozone filling the air, before he recognized the trespasser. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Katsuki raised an eyebrow. His arms were folded behind his head, and he had his boots up on a mahogany table that probably cost more than his life savings. He was far too relaxed for a man who had apparently forced his way into the most secure home in Japan. "Really?" he asked, sounding offended. "Not even a "hello" or a "nice to see you?" Man, you really have turned into a rich asshole."

Izuku stepped into the room, slamming the door hard behind him. He did not need Katsuki in his house right now. He especially didn't need the shitshow that would inevitably occur if Toshinori found out Katsuki was here.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to be glad?" Izuku snapped. "You are in my home! What the fuck are you doing here?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Are you just now realizing that?" he asked mildly. "As for why…we needed to talk to you."

Izuku opened his mouth to shout again…only to stop in dawning horror as he processed Katsuki's words. "We?" he repeated weakly. "Please don't tell me you and Ochako broke into my-"

"If you were about to imply we broke in," a new voice came from a side door, its source rapidly revealing itself as Uraraka Ochako, "I would like to note that I prefer to say we snuck in. We didn't hurt anyone or blow anything up-figured you'd get mad if we did that."

As she spoke, Ochako casually strolled in and plopped herself down on another expensive armchair. She held a crystal decanter in her hand, and a bottle of what appeared to be extremely high-end scotch in the other, presumably liberated from somewhere else in the mansion. As with Katsuki, the finery of their surroundings only made Ochako's dark, coarse clothing and long outer jacket look even more out of place. As Izuku watched, she filled the glass, and took a deep swig.

Izuku's expression darkened even further. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" he demanded. "You just broke into the most secure building in the fucking country! If my father finds you here-"

Ochako ignored him in favor of downing another glass. This one made her grimace; apparently the high-end liquor wasn't all it had cracked up to be. "If this is the most secure building in the country, I should become a bank robber," she snorted, setting the bottle aside. "Your guards aren't bad, but they're predictable as hell. We just walked right through a gap in the patrols."

Izuku filed that away for later; Toshinori would probably want to know that, and it would hopefully save his friends from at least being tortured after they got caught. Maybe.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself. "So. You broke-"

"Snuck," Ochako interrupted with a cheery grin on her face.

"Broke into my home," Izuku repeated, expression hard and unyielding. "And now you're sitting in a room worth more money than any of us have ever seen in our lives, bragging about how you probably put yourselves on a very short hit list, and you still won't tell me why you're here."

Katsuki frowned. "Pretty sure I did just tell you," he shot back. "We need to talk. What, did all the knocks on the head finally start to get to you?"

Izuku growled, but before he could speak, Ochako pointed out, "He was yelling at us at the time, Bakugo. Probably a little hard for your words to get through that thick skull of his."

Katsuki nodded thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, good point," he conceded. "Suppose it's his fault, then."

Ochako grinned. "When isn't it?" she replied.

As they laughed, Izuku snarled, "Enough, you two. Tell me what the fuck is so important that you needed to break into my house to tell me about it, or so help me God, I will beat it out of you."

Katsuki rolled his eyes; he and Ochako knew Izuku too well to be fooled by the dark, angry expression he wore, or even by the flickering lightning and faint smell of ozone that tinged the room.

"Simple," Izuku's oldest friend replied as he stood, fishing something out of a pocket on the long tan jacket he wore. "This."

Withdrawing a round but oddly misshapen object, Katsuki held it between his fingers for a moment before flicking it over to Izuku, who caught it almost without realizing he had. He felt the texture in his hands, and instantly knew what it was.

The flattened, mangled remains of a bullet.

Frowning, Izuku demanded, "Where the hell did you get this?"

Sitting back down, Katsuki put his feet back on the table before answering, "You heard about the train attack last night? You must've-supposedly it was some top-secret House train that got hit."

Izuku's eyes narrowed. "Vaguely," he replied. "I got back pretty late last night-but I got some inkling."

Katsuki nodded at that. "Round Cheeks and I visited the site early this morning," he said. "Found that right near the tracks. Place was crawling with cops and House troops, but they'd never have found the thing-it was buried in the dirt right where the explosion that derailed the train started. We figure it must've been the trigger for whatever bomb the attackers planted."

Izuku nodded absently; more or less by instinct, his mind was racing, falling back into well-honed patterns as he put the pieces together. Being a mercenary had always been a blend of skills; there was combat, of course, but there was plenty of detective work and subterfuge involved too. Without it, Izuku would have just been a big dumb sledgehammer on the battlefield, which he most certainly wasn't. Still…he'd never expected to have to use those skills again, let alone so soon after retiring.

"I'm surprised there's anything left of the bullet if it hit a bomb or something," he mused, still rubbing it between his fingers; it had odd ridges, unlike any bullet he'd ever seen before.

Ochako made a noise of agreement. "If it was a normal bullet, yeah," she said, nodding at it; all her earlier goofiness had vanished like morning mist, and she and Katsuki wore equally grave expressions. "But that ain't no regular bullet."

Concerned by that, Izuku finally opened his hand-and realized what she meant right away. This bullet was unmistakable; the purple and black streaks that ran through the material-which was a hardened epoxy-like substance, not metal-marked it clearly as coming from only one possible source.

"What the hell is Nagant of all people doing back in Japan?" Izuku asked, turning the crumpled remnants of the bullet over in his fingers. "I thought she hated this country."

Katsuki snorted. All three of them knew Lady Nagant; she'd been a regular at Mercy's just like them, and they'd been on fairly good terms for most of the time they'd known her. Or rather, they weren't likely to try and kill each other if they ran into each other outside of Mercy's or a contract-though there wasn't much of a difference, as not resorting to attempted murder on sight was about as close as Nagant got to any of her fellow mercs.

"That's what I'd like to know, too," Katsuki agreed. "Whatever got her back in this shithole must be one hell of a deal, or she'd never have taken it. And if the job is worth it to her…it must be something big."

Izuku nodded thoughtfully-then caught himself. "But why bring this to me?" he asked.

Katsuki…hesitated. Which immediately put Izuku on guard, because that simply didn't happen. At last, his friend shrugged, and replied, "Old habits die hard, I guess. I figured that Titan would want to know if another merc was active in his home territory-and, apparently, attacking Great Houses, too."

Izuku's eyes darkened. He saw Katsuki's ploy for what it was; the man had never claimed to be subtle, nor bothered to pretend he was, and the glint in his eyes now was no different.

"Yeah, I'm reminding you of what we used to do, and how easy it would be to start up again, asshole," his eyes said. "The fuck are you going to do about it?"

Izuku had an answer ready, though. He had to have one; after all, he'd had the same thoughts already.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, trying to drag me back into this?" Izuku hissed, low and dangerous.

Katsuki was utterly unaffected by the warning in Izuku's voice; he simply crossed his arms and replied, "Way I see it, I ain't dragging you back so much as reminding you what you really are."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "I left, Kacchan," he nearly spat, so heated Katsuki's old childhood nickname slipped from his lips. "I'm retired. I can't go…gallivanting around with you two anymore, dammit! I have responsibilities!"

From her seat on the couch, sipping at the scotch yet again, Ochako snorted. "Responsibilities," she repeated dryly. "Yeah, like sitting around in a fancy-ass mansion, lording it over people and going to fancy dinner parties?"

Izuku's jaw tightened. She was saying nothing he hadn't thought to himself a hundred times; he occasionally found himself yearning for the old days, when he was not the Heir To The House Of Yagi, but Titan, a mercenary who could fight freely, who had control of his destiny.

He didn't miss all of it, of course; being shot at wasn't fun, even with nostalgia-tinted glasses. But he did miss the freedom.

Even so…he held firm. "Listen," he said. "It really is good to see you again. But I don't know why you thought coming to me was a good idea. I can't help you."

He handed the bullet back to Katsuki, who accepted it, but said nothing; he simply stared evenly at Izuku, who tried his best to meet his red-eyed gaze.

Finally, the spiky-haired man sighed. "You really think you belong with them?" he asked idly. "Those pampered idiots who wouldn't know danger if it bit them in the ass?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "You've never met Shoko Todoroki," he thought to himself. "That woman redefines danger."

But he gave no reply; he simply held Katsuki's gaze until the other man rolled his eyes.

"Keep thinking that, I guess," he muttered. "Alright, we'll get out of your hair. Just…be careful, alright? Something's going on here. Nagant wouldn't have come back to this godforsaken country if she wasn't up to something."

Izuku nodded. "You stay safe, too," he replied, more fondly.

Katsuki grinned. "Not too safe," he shot back dryly. "Ruins the fun."

With that-an old in-joke of a response, from their days at Mercy's Bar-he stowed the bullet back in his pocket, turned, and yanked the scotch from Ochako's hand as he passed her by, making her shout, "Oi, I was drinking that!"

Katsuki snorted. "It's nine in the morning, you fucking disaster of a woman," he shot back.

Ochako rolled her eyes. Despite having drunk multiple glasses of the stuff, she didn't seem to feel the effects at all. Then again, that was pretty much par for the course for her; Ochako could outdrink Izuku, and Izuku was nearly twice her size. "Buzzkill," she muttered, but she followed him without another word.

Izuku watched them go, and tried to pretend like he didn't wish he was following them.

Once he was reasonably sure that Katsuki and Ochako actually had left, Izuku got on with what he had actually planned for today: namely, a meeting with Toshinori.

"Sorry I'm late, Father," he said as he entered the open door of Toshinori's study, closing it behind him. "Something came up."

Toshinori looked up from the papers on his desk as Izuku entered. Smiling fondly, he nodded and replied, "Ah, there you are, my boy! Good to see you! I assume that that "something" was Miss Uraraka and Mr. Bakugo's visit?"

Izuku froze mid-step, eyes bugging out in a way that would have been comical, if his stomach wasn't currently in the middle of a free-fall down towards his boots.

Toshinori allowed him to stew in the bone-deep terror for a few moments, before chuckling in a way that almost-almost-felt grandfatherly and good-natured.

"My boy, of course I knew about that," he said, eyes twinkling with amusement as he preempted Izuku's first question. "The defenses spotted them coming a mile and a half out, you know. I did them the courtesy of letting them think they got away with their little escapade; no need to put the guards in danger for doing their jobs. I also did them the courtesy of briefly disabling the autonomous turrets so that they didn't get killed. Do tell them that they can use the front door the next time they want to visit, though. I truly don't mind."

Izuku managed to forcefully reboot his brain after a few moments. Sheepishly, he replied, "I'll, uh…let them know when I get the chance, I guess."

Toshinori hummed at that. "And do you believe you will get another chance?" he asked, his tone unnervingly mild. "It's rather…unorthodox for two ex-mercenaries to have a standing welcome to a Great House's manor."

Izuku flushed, mostly at the unnerving accuracy of Toshinori's words-the man had always been able to read him like a book-but also at the slightest hint of disapproval that lingered in his adopted father's features.

Before he could respond, though, Toshinori's expression softened. "That being said, though," he continued, "I do mean what I said, my boy. They are welcome here. You and I both know of the pull they can exert on you, back to the man you were in America-but I do not wish to make you think that you must choose between some imagined past and future."

Izuku looked up in surprise at that. "Really?" he asked, caught off guard. "I was…kinda expecting you to lecture me about my responsibilities to the House, and the importance of not letting myself be distracted with my…old habits."

Eyes twinkling, Toshinori sipped from his tea yet again before responding, "Well, every gentleman needs a hobby. Some write poetry, or bet on races. You are…not well suited to either of those, I think. But I do not wish to force you to forget your past, or your friends. And I hardly think you are irresponsible. I trust you to find a balance-because yes, you do have to take on new challenges, and face situations and threats you would not have faced as a mercenary. But I am not asking you to change, my boy. That would be cruel. I am merely asking that you grow."

Izuku found himself nodding at that. Every so often, he found himself making assumptions about the kind of man Toshinori was-the kind of man he had to be, on some level, to be the greatest and most powerful Lord of his generation. But there was still plenty of proof that, despite the cold, grim side of him that he had never pretended to hide, Toshinori Yagi was still a fundamentally kind, decent man, especially to family.

"Thank you, Father," he said softly. "I swear I'll make you proud."

Toshinori smiled fondly. "You did that already, a long time ago," he replied fondly. "But I digress. I have one other question about your friends' visit, actually. What did they wish to discuss with you?"

Izuku blinked for a moment, then refocused. They had actually brought important news-news that it seemed unlikely Toshinori would already know. He'd been meaning to try and find a way to bring it up anyway; he supposed he simply didn't need to come up with an excuse, now.

"They'd located evidence that a…former acquaintance of ours was involved in last night's train robbery," he said. "They thought that I would want to know."

Toshinori's gaze locked in on his. "How solid is this evidence?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Izuku met his father's stony gaze evenly, not feeling any fear at all. "Ironclad," he said curtly. "It was a bullet, fired by a woman whose quirk is incredibly distinctive."

Toshinori nodded at that, drumming his fingers on the table. "This makes for a useful segway, actually," he said mildly. "I had planned to discuss the events of last night with you anyway; knowing that at least one mercenary hired from the American West Coast was involved only makes it more pressing."

Izuku nodded. "I don't know much about the robbery," he admitted. "Only bits and pieces. I was already on my way home from the feast last night when it happened."

Toshinori waved his apology off. "That is more than reasonable," he told Izuku. "And I'll spare you the gritty detail for now; to summarize, a high-security train belonging to House Iida was attacked and robbed last night."

Izuku frowned. "That's what I heard, more or less," he said. "But the thing that makes no sense about it is why. Were they after something specific the train was carrying?"

Toshinori nodded. "I was wondering the same thing," he agreed. "Attacking a secure train is too complex for a normal criminal gang to pull off, and too unprofitable too. Whatever organization was behind this had something else they were after, some objective beyond the money. But there's problems with it being the cargo, too."

Izuku tapped his fingers on his chin as he thought. "It's too loud," he realized, earning an approving nod from Toshinori. "If you're stealing something from a train, you don't blow up the tracks and derail the whole thing-you bribe a guard, or the stationmaster."

"Exactly," Toshinori said, shuffling through papers on his desk. "That suggests to me that they weren't after something on the train, really. They were looking to make a statement of some kind. The attackers wanted it to be visible. Which reduces our pool of possible suspects down to just one group, really."
Izuku's eyes widened, ever so slightly, as he followed Toshinori's chain of thought. "Another House?" he asked.

Toshinori pursed his lips. "Entirely possible," he agreed. "House Iida is wealthy and powerful-but even Great Houses are rarely so secure as to dissuade rivals and challengers. More than that, this was a strike designed to hit the Iidas where it would hurt the most-they make most of their money from contracts for secure, timely transport. Make their clients nervous, and you might just bring down the House. It's a perfect strike…though almost too perfect, in my opinion."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. He found himself recalling, again, that no matter how skilled a detective he was, his thinking simply was nowhere near as twisty as a man like Toshinori's. Being a high lord required a level of constant paranoia beyond even what seven years as a mercenary had instilled in Izuku-and he found himself still lacking even now.

"How so?" he asked.

Toshinori hummed thoughtfully. "If this was a rival House looking to weaken Iida so they can muscle in on their business," he mused, "Completely destroying an expensive asset like a secure high-speed train seems like a poor business decision."

Izuku found himself nodding along at that. "But that would also be pretty good cover if a House wanted to avoid scrutiny," he pointed out.

Toshinori shrugged. "A good point," he conceded, "But frankly, we should be careful not to speculate too much. The attack happened barely twelve hours ago; I have no doubt that more information will become available to my network-and perhaps to yours, if Mr. Bakugo and Miss Uraraka do some snooping of their own-in the next few days. Regardless of the causes, you will be feeling the effects, my boy."

Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Toshinori fixed him with a stare that was…not unkind, or harsh, but certainly firm. "All the tensions among the nobility eventually find their way into the playing field of the gala circuit," he said, his tone deceptively mild. "I would expect things to get…tenser among your peers. Especially given that the heir to House Iida is your age."

Izuku nodded slowly. "I'll keep that in mind," he replied.

In response, Toshinori smiled-only for that smile to inevitably vanish again as he closed the folder he'd had open on his desk, only to shift it aside and open the one beneath it-the one concerning the potential candidates for Izuku's marriage.

"That aside," Toshinori said, "How are you managing, my boy? I am aware it's only been a little over a week since you returned, but it seems to me you're catching on."

Izuku considered for a moment before responding, "I'm, uh…surviving, I guess. Dealing with nobles at balls is definitely not something I'm used to, but…I'm okay."

He didn't bring up the search for a wife; that felt like something that could only lead in bad directions, at the moment. Not least because, thanks to Shoko Todoroki, the only eligible noblewomen he'd gotten to know were…well, Shoko Todoroki. And she was most definitely not on the table as an option, in Izuku's mind or Toshinori's.

"I'm glad to hear that," Toshinori said, smiling. "It's never easy to deal with such an abrupt shift in one's life, but you've handled it about as well as can be expected, my boy."

Izuku nodded gratefully, and expected things to end there; Toshinori had gone through his whole stack of folders, and cheerfully dismissed Izuku with a fond hug and a look. However, as Izuku was halfway out the door, Toshinori spoke again.

"Oh, one other thing, my boy," he said, halting Izuku in his tracks. "Have you had any run-ins with Lady Todoroki at any of the events you've attended?"
Izuku fought back a wince at that; though Toshinori was generally a kind and forgiving man where Izuku was concerned, Izuku still wasn't eager to tell him that Izuku had disobeyed the one ironclad rule Toshinori had given him for attending balls by immediately getting into a vigorous back-and-forth with the most dangerous woman in Japan.

Then again, it wasn't like it had been his fault, right? She'd practically cornered him the first time he'd attended! Well, maybe that one hadn't been his fault…but the second one kind of had been. A little bit.

Hoping that he was good enough at disguising his thoughts to fool Toshinori, Izuku asked, "Is this one of the questions you already know the answer to?"

Toshinori raised an eyebrow at that, and Izuku once again fought back the urge to cringe. Instead of being called out on his (quite frankly, not-that-good) obfuscation, though, Toshinori just chuckled. "If you're asking if I've been having you spied on at balls, then no, I haven't," he said mildly. "In fact, I've specifically asked my sources that generally give me ballroom gossip to refrain for a few months. I don't want you to feel like I'm staring over your shoulder. You will lead this House one day; you can make your own decisions and use your own judgment as you like."

Izuku…was honestly kinda touched by that. Not worrying that Toshinori would judge him for screwing up had been part of the reason he'd grown to trust the Lord of House Yagi in the first place; he supposed he could appreciate the same respect in this context too. Even if it made him feel guiltier for not following the rules.

"I haven't seen much of her," Izuku said. "You're right, though-that woman makes me nervous."

Toshinori smiled-but it had a twinkle to it, one that Izuku had absolutely no chance in hell of making sense of, but that scared the fuck out of him anyway.

"Sounds like you're handling yourself well," he said mildly. "Now, that's all I wanted to talk about. I won't keep you any longer."

Izuku nodded, and retreated out the door, hoping desperately that Toshinori hadn't read him like a goddamn book.

Frankly, he really, really doubted that he was going to get lucky on that one.